MUNICH, Feb. 22, 2018 — Wolfgang
Ischinger, the chairman of the Munich Security Conference, told members of the
Loisach Group that the German-American partnership is the “backbone” of the
transatlantic alliance and the conference, which was held here Feb. 16-18.

Each February, the Munich
Security Conference brings together more than 450 senior decision-makers from
around the world to engage in an intensive debate on current and future
security challenges.

The Loisach Group is a
collaboration between the Munich Security Conference and the George C. Marshall
European Center for Security Studies that focuses on enhancing the security
partnership between the U.S. and Germany while promoting an enduring strategic
dialogue between these essential partners. The group met Feb. 19 after the
Munich Security Conference wrapped up.

The Marshall Center, based
in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, is a 25-year old German-American security
partnership that has produced generations of global security professionals
schooled in American and German security policies.

Key to Mutual Security

“Our [Loisach Group]
guiding principle is the belief that the German-U.S. partnership is the key
relationship in America’s security relationship with Europe beyond NATO,” said
Keith W. Dayton, the Marshall Center’s director. “This transatlantic
relationship is at the foundation of our group and is, we believe, the key to
our mutual security.”

The group was formed last
year to focus on enhancing the security partnership between the United States
and Germany with a view toward establishing an enduring strategic dialogue
platform.

The Loisach Group held a
roundtable discussion engaging ambassadors, former White House officials and
senior German and American military officers, academics and journalists to
further strengthen the strategic dialogue by discussing the lessons identified
by this year’s Munich Security Conference.

“I think it’s very
important that we had this meeting immediately after the Munich Security
Conference because it gave us the chance to reflect on what has been said,
especially about how to foster the German-American relationship,” said German
Army Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Jörg Vollmer. “What the Loisach Group brought
together today was good and open discussions, exchange of thoughts, and gave
all of us, I think, an idea on what we need to improve in the upcoming weeks
and months.”

‘Most Important Relationship
in the World’

Vollmer was a part of the
panel discussion on the state of the German and U.S. strategic dialogue along
with Frederick Benjamin "Ben" Hodges III, former commanding general
of U.S. Army Europe.

“I believe that the
relationship between Germany and the United States is the most important
relationship in the world for the United States,” Hodges said. “Germany is a
partner that we need to jealously guard and protect that relationship -- [it
is] strategically important for us.”

Hodges added, “The Loisach
Group is another line of effort to help achieve that.”

Strategic Dialogue

This is the first time that
Loisach Group held a side event at the Munich Security Conference. The other
panel discussion at this side event was on aligning U.S. and German security
policy. Sharing their thoughts on this discussion were Karl-Heinz Kamp,
president of the Federal Academy for Security Policy in Berlin, and Dan
Hamilton, executive director of the Center of Transatlantic Relations at Johns
Hopkins University in Washington.

“I couldn’t be more pleased
with the level of engagement and the level of interest,” said Andrew A. Michta,
dean of the Marshall Center’s College of International and Security Studies. “I
think we have taken a very significant step in building that network of people
who are committed to the German-American security strategic dialogue that
Secretary of Defense [James N.] Mattis mentioned when he was here.”

Mattis and German Defense
Minister Ursula von der Leyen visited the Marshall Center for the 70th
anniversary of the Marshall Plan commemoration ceremony in June last year.

“They inaugurated something
they called a new ‘strategic dialogue’ between Germany and the United States,”
Dayton said. ‘In my view, this was a recognition that the security bond between
our two countries was extremely important and could not be allowed to fade.”

Loisach Group’s Past,
Future

The name of the group
refers to the Loisach River in Garmisch-Partenkirchen and the fact that the
water from that river flows into Munich. The first meeting of the Loisach Group
was in May last year, and the second meeting was a few months later in
December.

Michta said the next
meeting for the Loisach Group is planned for this summer before the NATO Summit
in Brussels.

“We will be able to
generate some additional ideas and hopefully, send it to our stakeholders in
Berlin and Washington, D.C.,” he said.